Elderly and disabled people often encounter problems in putting on stockings. This problem occurs because age or injuries limit this group's ability to bend over far enough or to lift the leg to place a stocking over their toes and pull it up over the heel and instep of their feet. Their limited ability to bend or lift the leg can be due to obesity, arthritis, generalized frailty or disabling injuries. People with this problem may be reduced to wearing shoes without socks or stockings or finding an aid or device that will assist them in pulling stockings on their feet.
Others who must use elastic stockings sometimes find them difficult to pull on because of their inability to bend and also because the elasticity of the stocking makes it difficult to pull them on.
A number of prior art devices have been reported but each of them fails to provide an adequate solution to the problem herein presented. Many of them are too complex for the simple task involved, while others err on the other side of being too simple so that they are ineffective in solving the problem as will be evident from the following.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,057 discloses a structure formed with a wire frame and platform shaped like a foot which is attached, at its rear, to twin handles and having one end of a pair of straps on the handles. The other end of the straps are attached to the top of a stocking which has been stretched over the wire frame and platform. A two step process is involved in its use. The user first places his foot in the cavity formed when the stocking is stretched over the wire frame and platform. Thereafter the user pulls the stocking on by means of the straps attached to the stocking. So a two step process is involved in its use. The device is also complex involving hinges, long handles, straps, wire frames and a metal platform. It is also heavy and clumsy.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,856 is a much simpler device than the previously mentioned one. It involves a tubular or "U" shaped cylindrical shape of some length having a pair of holes on one end and on each side of the "U". A line is anchored in each hole and is the means of pulling the cylinder with a stocking onto the foot of the user. As in the previous device, a user puts his foot in the cavity formed by inserting about half the length of the chordal truncated cylinder into the stocking. It is clear that this device will often fail in pulling on a stocking. Since the stocking is merely slid onto the truncated cylinder of the device and there are no means for insuring that the stocking is held in place. Thus, when the user pulls on the cord attached to the cylinder the stocking will be blocked by a person's instep and fall off the device. The user will have to try again.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,907 is very similar to the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,057 and substitutes a pliable material for the metal platform and wire frame part of the device. The same objections as to complexity and clumsiness apply to this device and the two step process for pulling on a stocking.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,008 is a Y-shaped tool which has hooks inside the "Y". These hooks engage the top edge of a stocking and thereby hold the stocking with its top open so a foot can be inserted in the stocking. Thereafter the tool is used to pull the stocking over a person's instep, held and ultimately up their calf. The device still requires the user to reach to the tip of his foot. This limitation would make it unsuitable for many who are not able to reach their toe with the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,226 is a complex device employing a hoop attached near the end of a rod. A handle is located on the other end of the rod. The hoop has clamps located around its periphery which hold the opening of a stocking on the hoop so a foot can be stuck into the stocking. After clamping the top opening of a stocking to the hoop, the user then grasps the device with the handle, and places the stocking opening in front of this foot so he can then place his foot in the stocking and then he pulls the stocking up. The hoop can be placed varying distances from the handle so that it provides a long reach for those who need it. The main problem with the device is that it does not hold the stocking foot open so that the entire stocking must be forced over the person's foot. This limits the usefulness of the device to rather loose stockings.
U.S. Pat. 4,637,532 is a device used to put on elastic stockings. It functions primarily to force an elastic stocking open and hold it open while a foot is pushed into it. It does not provide any assistance in pulling the stocking on further after it has been placed on a person's foot. It would be useless for a person who cannot bend over far enough to grasp the top of the stocking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,909 is a flexible spoon shaped sheet having cut out ear-like section on the blunt end. The flexible spoon is forced into a "U" shape then a stocking is forced onto it. The "ears" each have a cord attached to them and after a person's foot is inserted into the stocking opening, the person draws the stocking onto his foot with the cord. The main defect in this device is that there is no means for holding the stocking on the device and as soon as the user starts pulling on the device, it can slide out of the stocking leaving it on the person's toes.
A further known device distributed by Fred Sammonds, Inc. is known as "Economy Plastic Sock And Stocking Aid" ("Aid"). This device consists of a fashioned flexible polyethylene plastic sheet approximately 1/16 by 81/4 by 10 inches that can be bent into a half tube to receive the foot. The device includes two pull cords along the upper edge. The user draws the sock over the Aid and then inserts the foot. The cord is pulled to bring the sock onto the foot and around the heel. The drawbacks with the Aid device include encountering resistance of the heel of the foot to the sock as well as resistance of the instep of the foot to the sock. Additionally, the Aid does not control the position of the sock on the Aid. Further, two hands are required to use the Aid.